Tag Archives: Interactive cards

Yes, another cat card! This one was supposed to have made the Cat Lovers Hop, but the company I’d ordered the stamp set from goofed and sent me the wrong set and the correct one didn’t arrive until after the hop was done. (FYI, it wasn’t Art Impressions, this was before they had this set up on their site) I still needed to make up the card I had planned, so here we are. : )

This stamp set is SO us, I just HAD to get it to make first and foremost for the other special folks in my favorite group hug pack! And, you know me… I’m a sucker for interactive cards…. This one is a doozy!!

This is a gate-fold card, where the two sides fold together and meet or overlap slightly in the middle. Only on this one, they’re tied together by the interlocking cats. If you push in slightly on the edges, you can slide them apart…

See… the orange tiger kitty is sliding away from the group.

Since the current Art Impressions challenge #245 is Washi Tape, I framed the outside with washi tape and lined the inside with a couple of layers of it, too. For those of you who don’t know what washi tape is a thin decorative adhesive tape; much thinner than masking tape… You can see the underlying patterned paper on the front of the card under the orange, and the row of hearts from the washi tape under the pink washi tape on the inside:

For the inside, I fussy cut the cuddly group and put them together exactly behind the ones in the opening so they’re still hugging on the inside when it’s opened and it says: “Does somebody need a cuddle?” Awww!

There was one part of the directions for this set that wasn’t quite clear. I’m going to jot down some tips and pointers both for my pea-sized brain to refer back to as I’m likely to forget next time I put one of these together, and FYI, too.

Tip #1 You want the stamp to hit the edges of the paper. I used a MISTI and put the paper in the corner to stamp it, which means there was a tiny space between the edge of the stamp and the edge of the paper, so it didn’t cut out completely. (also: Don’t ink up the corners in the stamps below the cats… they’re just there to help you place the cats properly… place the corner of the stamp on the corresponding corner of your card.

No big deal… it’s just 4 tiny snips with a scissors, but you COULD avoid it. Just sayin’.

The instructions say to ‘score a 9 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ panel of cardstock at 2 3/4″ and 7:”. Fold like a gatefold card with the left panel on top.’ Well, perhaps you’re smarter than I am, but I wasn’t sure which is the left panel or if it made a difference, so I did it both ways:

As you can see, the longer panel (2 3/4″) puts the finished product in the center of the card. (not to say that an off-center card isn’t cool, too):

Tip #2: I clearly marked on my package that the wider 2 3/4″ panel is the left panel to TRY to help me remember next time. (We’ll see if it works! lol!)

Tip #3: don’t crease your scoring until you have the cats stamped and cut out… that gives you a little wiggle room to adjust the folds, if needed.

Tip #4: you can cut off a bit more of the bottom edge if you want some of the foot from the cat in the back showing:

Since the cute stitched edging didn’t show up on my patterned paper, I decided to outline it with a lace heart. None of the heart dies I had on hand were the exact shape of this heart opening, but the Spellbinders Lace Hearts can be cut down and made to fit with a little finagling.

Good morning and welcome to the final day of the 2018 Cat Lovers Hop! With over 175 entries already, there has been loads of amazing crafty inspiration and feline fun!

I have a fun spinner card to show you:

I love how that die looks like a ball of yarn! The little hearts at the bottom almost look like cat heads, too. It was a little daunting figuring out how to put this together as I needed to hide the spinning mechanism beneath the kitty, but I used some circle dies and foam (and baby powder to help it spin a little more freely), and got it to work. There is a small solid circle of foam underneath the white circle on the back side of kitty, glued to kitty. The pink circle on kitty is a donut, with the hole smaller than the white circle, but larger than the foam circle, allowing free movement. The pink circle was glued to the foam ring on the card, the inside of which is larger than the white circle on the kitty, allowing free movement. Totally confused? Me, too, but it works. : )

After stamping this sweet decorative cat, I colored her up using gel pens and added some glossy accents on her eyes and paws.

The inside die cut says You Make Every Day Perfect… I just cut the first e off of Perfect and cut and extra u from You and made it Purfect. I used some chalks and a sparkle pen to make the sentiment stand out a little more. (Those really are two different shades of pink cardstock, the camera doesn’t show it very well.)

I love the sweet sentiment stamped on the back!! I’m going to be using it a lot to thank the many good friends that I have!

Here is a video of the card in action (You may need to click on the email to go to the actual blog post, then click in the middle of the picture on the white arrow):

What do you have to do to be eligible to win this prize? If you’re interested, follow me on Instagram (@d.ann.c), like and comment on the post featuring this giveaway, tagging ONE friend who you think might also like to follow me.

Bonus entry option #1: just leave me a comment on this blog post using the word “PAW” somewhere in your comment.

For a second bonus entry (for a total of 3 possible entries, like and comment on the Instagram (@d.ann.c) post featuring this card. (It doesn’t have to be a long comment, just a heart will do.) Come back here and leave a comment letting me know that you did it and your Instagram name.

You will have until Midnight, Eastern Standard Time, October 28, 2018 to get your comments in. Sometime after noon Eastern Standard Time on Monday, October 29, I will publish a post listing all winners from giveaways on my blog from this hop (chosen using Random.org). Winners will have 48 hours to claim their prizes so, if you’re not subscribed, be sure to check back later that afternoon for that post!!

I will be back with one final card for the hop later today. See you then!

~D.Ann

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p.s. any ads on this page are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.

There is some twine to make the yarn ball more realistic. For the ribbed ‘wood baseboards’, I took a thin strip of kraft paper and scored along it every 1/8″, then shaved an 1/8″ piece perpendicular to the scoring.

Add a few well placed “meows”, including one for the extra kitty who’s managed to get in behind the vanity, climb up the back, and is mischievously about to bat at the roses!

Embellishing also means bling… foil for the mirror, glossy accents for the vase and eyes and loads of Sparkle Pen to add shine to the purse, fur stole, hat and roses. Oh, and don’t forget to embellish the envelope with a few stamps, too. : )

Here’s a video of the card in action *click in the middle of the picture on the white arrow)

Hello from the sunny see-side! Well, yes, I AM by the SEA (which many people use interchangeably with the ocean). But here in my blog, you get to sit by my side and SEE what I’ve been working on. (I can hear you audibly groaning!) Enough of the bad puns… let’s get to today’s project, SHELL we?!

I got my color inspiration from the Lion’s Paw shell (Lyropecten nodosus) that I have. It starts from a light orange and goes to mauve. I decided to got to red instead…

I LOVE the easy blending of the oxide inks!! And the ridge design of this die is so very similar to real shells, it makes for a beautiful card front! This week’s Simon Says Stamp’s Monday Challenge is Sprinkles and Splatters, so I spritzed the oxide inks hoping for a wet water look as the inks react with the water… fair, but I’ll Make them stand out more in a little bit…

Meanwhile, how about a tutorial for the spinner on the inside of the card? The included circle dies (probably meant for a ‘pearl’ make making a spinner super easy! You could use the small circles from any basic circle set the same way…

Cut the smaller circle in the middle of the bottom inside shell (110#). It is helpful to have your circle for the spinner already cut so you can choose where to put the center hole. Cut 4 additional (110#) small circles. The edges have an embossed ring around them… follow the embossing line and cut to make them slightly smaller than the opening in the card.

Cut a piece of 3mm foam with the inner shell die. (note: It would probably be better to already have your double sided adhesive on both sides the foam… I got ahead of myself and had to cut the adhesive to fit afterward.) Cut a circle out of it in the center using the larger circle die. cut about 1/8″ around the circle you just cut… the goal is to have the hole in the foam slightly larger than the larger circle. If you don’t want the edge of the foam showing, now would be a good time to run a sharpie that matches your card along the edges of the foam.

Cut two copies of the larger circle out of 110# cardstock.

Adhere the foam to the bottom shell INSIDE. (Note, you only have to color a small bit of the edges of this that will be seen. I wasted a lot of ink coloring the whole thing. I thought of that with the second one and just ran a marker around it before closing it up.)

Adhere the stack of smaller circles to one of the larger circles. Make sure this will fit in the ‘hole’ in the middle of the foam with some wiggle room and that the smaller circles fit it the small hole of the cardstock with some wiggle room.

Here is the secret ingredient: BABY POWDER! I like to put a little dash of baby powder on the edges of the stack of small circles to make sure there’s no adhesive that might cause them to stick to the card and not spin. Having done that and sealed up the card I found it wasn’t spinning smoothly, so I went back in and added a pinch of baby powder into the ‘hole’ with my tweezers and that solved the problem. So I recommend you just save that trouble and put a little UNDER the larger circle in the foam side ‘hole’ just so there’s a little extra in there.to keep it smooth, not enough to fall out and dust the recipient, making them sneeze and reactivate the oxide inks if you didn’t seal them! LoL!! : )

Now, hold the stack of small circles so they’re poking through the hole you see in the cardstock. The larger circle will keep them from going all the way through. Take the other large circle and adhere the small circles to it on the other side of the shell (what will be the inside of the card. This will keep it from falling back down. Adhere the shell to the foam.

Adhere your already decorated large spinner circle to the circle that’s in the middle of the shell making sure no adhesive sticks to the shell card itself. I used a scalloped circle to make it easier to have something to catch with your finger.

I’ve been wanting to try Finnabair’s Art Alchemy Opal Magic paints on both light and dark paper to compare them, so I grabbed the Blue-Violet for the purr-maids’ tails and tops and the results were delightful! On the black cardstock this gorgeous shimmery paint is more purple with hints of blue and on white cardstock it’s more blue with hints of purple (how does it know?! LoL!)… Truly magical!!

To finish, I used the seashells stencil with Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide… it was interesting to see that it blended a little with the background colors, becoming more green at the bottom and more blue at the top. I love that Distress Oxide inks can layer without becoming mud!

I had been worrying that, since they stay reactive to water, if the card were to get wet in transit or the recipient were to spill water on it, it would move the ink wherever it got wet. I just watched the video on Jennifer McGuire’s new blog post (HERE) where she used Design Master Clear Finish Matte spray to seal her AMAZING Distress Oxide project and it looked fine… soooo, I rooted through my supplies and found Plaid’s FolkArt Cearcote Acrylic Sealer, Matte Finish and decided to give it a try.

BTW – I don’t know if you can read the stamp on the back, but it cheekily says: “If it was a Hallmark, it wouldn’t look this good!” : )

The before pics are on the left and the after are on the right. It seems to have made the colors a little more vivid. It didn’t seem to reactivate the inks (phew) and they do have a slightly shiny matte photo finish.

Note: I posted that question on Tim Holtz’ Facebook page and he just replied. He suggested using Distress Micro Glaze. I will have to try that next time and compare. Thanks, Tim!

Now, to finish off the water droplet look I wanted on the front. I have a hard time being random when adding water droplets, so it was perfect to have the spritzed discolored areas to follow as a guide for some truly random glossy accents droplets.

I close with a video of the spinner in action. (just click in the middle of the picture below or on the arrow in the middle to start it)

Hello, hello! Here we are on the penultimate day of the Cat Lovers Hop.

As the saying goes: ‘Time sky raisins when you’re having fun!’ What?! Since there are so many new hoppers, I HAVE to re-share with you my favorite cat meme and you’ll understand:

Three years in a row and it still makes me laugh!

I have my last interactive card to show you today and it’s a doozy… In fact, it can only REALLY be appreciated in a video. so here’s one from Instagram. (Roll your mouse over the picture and click the white arrow to play it):

I just LOVE animated cards and am tickled that my first attempt turned out as well as it did! I have a bonus tutorial for you. I used Uchi’s Animation Die Cut to make that flower! So another way to stretch your dies, should you have it (or be able to talk some sweet friend or relative into getting it for you!). So you’re going to turn this grid into that flower:

First you have to trim down the grid leaving the same width at the top and bottom. You don’t want this too thick because that’s how much your flower will stick up off your card.

Next you gently fold the grid around a pen and glue the ends together. Use the barrel of the pen to smooth out the curves of the ‘petals.’

Then you run a bead of glue along the bottom seam and start rolling it over on itself, molding it into a circle.

Here’s what it looks like all rolled up. (Hmph… I see I didn’t worry too much about curving the petals since I was just demo-ing for you… they are rather pointy. Oh well…)

Then you gently separate the petals and pull them out to the sides and put a brad in the center and tah-dah… a cute little flower!

You can also see from these close-ups, the advantage of using the Animation Die versus just buying the sheets… You can color it to match your stamp… even using multiple colors!

I waited to color the grids to match until AFTER I could set the stamped pull tab in the middle of the card and see where the colors needed to be on the grids, but BEFORE I closed it up… that way I could do it over scratch paper and not worry about getting any ink on my stamped slider.

Note: I tried putting just a solid color (black or other) as a grid over the colored stamped images and they also worked as animated images. It’s just cooler when the colors match!

Did you notice that the same pull tab animates both sides (simultaneously)! That was not without some engineering obstacles… for example the first time I stamped my images – after I had already figured out and made the front and back — oops! I did them in reverse and had to re-stamp them (which was much easier than lining up my grids again!).

By the way – don’t let this semi-complicated card intimidate you. You can make these very simple with just one animated image and they’re just as entertaining!

Her are the still pictures of the card. Here’s the front. ( I added that cute kitty sticker going for the dragonfly – doesn’t it look like he’s just about to pounce!):

And here’s the back. I like the optical illusion of the background paper mixed with these animations! Wish I knew the manufacturer, I’d get more!

How about another delicate hint for my Blog Candy Giveaway games from THIS post. Don’t forget: some words may be in there backwards! Although I can’t cater to your every whim, have no fear, you will still get entries for the Bonus questions whether or not you get the answers to #1 and #2 correct. At least you’re now two words closer! Have fun!

I’m so glad to have had all of you visit and have thoroughly enjoyed reading your delightful comments! Thank you for taking the time!!

~D.Ann

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p.s. any ads on this page are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.

Hooray! The day has finally arrived for the annual Cat Lovers Hop! I’ve been excitedly bouncing around like Tigger the past couple of days! I know we all look forward to this annual hop and I think it’s appropriate to start off with a special thanks to Janis over at HerPeacefulGarden for all the hard work she puts into this special event! Let’s give her a big round of aPAWs!! Be sure to check out her link up page (HERE) for all the details and for the aMEOWzing list of sponsors she lined up!

If you’ve been watching on Instagram you know I have a lot of fun stuff in store for you… Thankfully, I’ve had a year to prepare! On my blog, there will be cards, calendars, home decor, jewelry, a guest designer, sci-fi cats, games, giggles and more – all featuring those dear, precious critters we all love… cats! I’m working on a giveaway, too, so you’ll want to stay tuned for that.

I’m going to start off with my first ever light-up card. It’s a slider with an adorable pair of kissing kitties anniversary card made with stamps from hop sponsor Newton’s Nook:

When you pull on the heart tab, the romantic kitty slides over to plant a smooch on his sweetie – at which point the heart lights up and the words oh-la-la! are revealed!

Here’s a video of it in action (roll your mouse over the picture and click the white arrow):

Confession: I cannot believe that I engineered the placement of wiring for the light and the slider on the inside just so, but I was so excited to try it, I turned it over and sealed it up, found out it worked and THEN reached for my camera. DUM-DUM want GUM-GUM?! lol! Guess you’ll have to wait a while until I do another one to see the inner workings. Sorry!

Wondering where I got that aMEWsing beret? It came from the Newton Dreams of Paris set… I just fussy cut it off that kitty (who’s not looking in the right direction for this kiss), snipped the lines on both sides of his ear and it tucked perfectly around.

Here’s a better pic of the card with the heart lit up from the smooch:

It just makes MY heart go pitter-patter! … I’ve done it so many times, I hope I haven’t used up the battery before my recipients get to play with it!

This was supposed to be my grand finale card for tomorrow, but I was afraid I might not have time to post it, so it’s going up today. : ) Yes, there’s only just over a day left of the Spring Coffee Lovers Bloghop!

I’ve been showing my cards from the hop to my barista who is a sweetheart and always goes above and beyond with my green tea fraps, so I thought I’d make her a special little interactive thank you card:

I just LOVE this adorable Lil’ Inker Designs Kitty Hugger! (And that cool Starbucks holographic Miami Gift Card!) The frap is just sitting there unattached and can be removed to read the Thank You note on the back. The kitty stands up by cutting a second one and gluing the heads together. (The arms and tail of the back one were removed so they wouldn’t be seen (making a scary mutant cat) and the parts that would be visible were colored in.)

I had a learning curve with coloring it tho… I was happy with how natural looking the paw pads I added turned out – until I folded them over and THEN remembered Copics bleed through. Akk! Usually it’s not a problem as I’ll be attaching what I color to something else, covering the back side. Well, just don’t think too much about how a kitty could be hugging something AND have his paw pads showing or you’ll get a brain cramp from the contortions. Lol!

There was a serendipitous moment, too… when my cutting pads are very well used, they tend to impress the markings on the back of what I’m cutting. Not usually a problem, but when I folded the arm over, I found that it added some cool fur-like texture!!

If you look closely at the pic above, you can see the ‘shelf’ I built on his left foot. I just added two pieces of cardstock straight across the ‘ankle’ and that gives the frap a shelf to rest on which, along with the bent paw, holds it in place until ready to be removed.

I wish you could see the frap in real life… It’s amazing! I colored the green tea part first, then added the Nuvo Fresh Snowfall Glitter accents and it looks nice and frosty! The whipped cream was done with a Viva Decor Perlen Pen and the straw was attached. Once dry, I die cut a piece of clear plastic from the packaging of one of my dies, lined it with Scor-tape and put it on top for a true plastic cup look.

The kitty does stand alone, but he can also sit on the gift card… one cool Miami cat! That gives me an idea: he could be used later as a bookmark, too!

Since they were 25% off today (with Target’s Cartwheel app), I went over to get a frap, and hopefully get a pic of my barista with her gift, but she was off today, so I just came home with a yummy pick-me-up for myself. (Nonfat milk and raspberry syrup instead of classic – yum!) I always get mine without whipped cream, but the card just looks cuter with it, don’tcha think?!

Supplies used:

Lil’ Inker Designs Kitty Hugger stamp and die set

Lil Inker Designs Coffee Talk stamp and die sets

Memento Tuxedo Black dye ink

Copic Markers: C1, 3, 5; E02; R20; RV02; YG61, 63

Tonic Studios Nuvo Glitter Accents: Fresh Snowfall

Viva Decor Perlen Pen – Ice White

Sookwang 2.5″ Scor-tape adhesive

Aleene’s Clear Gel Tacky Blue

Coredinations white and red cardstock

Misc. plastic packaging

I’m playing along with the following challenges… click on any one of them for more information on how you can join the fun…